SPOILERS ALERT!!!

Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ and I’m Tim Bradley!

Remember that ‘Mr. Bean’ sketch where Mr. Bean was being bothered by a bee whilst having a picnic? Well, Netflix made an entire series about it. 😀 ‘Man vs. Bee’ starring Rowan Atkinson was released on Netflix in June 2022. I’ve wanted to review this series for some time and I’’m pleased that I have.

I saw ‘Man vs. Bee’ back in 2022, but I didn’t review it at the time because…well, I didn’t consider Netflix shows and films a top priority compared to Disney+ shows and films. I still haven’t reviewed the two ‘Enola Holmes’ films that have been released on Netflix (I’ve found the two films enjoyable).

Thankfully, I’ve been able to do reviews on ‘Glass Onion’ and ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always’ that are exclusive on Netflix, so it’s just as well that I share some thoughts about ‘Man vs. Bee’ with Rowan Atkinson. It’s a very enjoyable comedy series with nine episodes in total. 🙂

The nine episodes in ‘Man vs. Bee’ each run from 10 to 15 minutes. If you were to watch the ‘Man vs. Bee’ series in one go, you can view this as being like (and I checked this) a 102-minute film overall. Or you could watch three episodes per day across three days to break up the monotony of the series. 🙂

The series features Rowan Atkinson as Trevor Bingley, a man who is down-on-his-luck and has a job as a housesitter in a rich couple’s modern mansion. Trevor finds himself battling against a bee that keeps popping up and he ends up causing irreparable damage to household items and appliances. 😀

The comedy featured throughout this mini-series is very good. Rowan Atkinson continues to be excellent in playing it straight at comedy and you can see elements of his Mr. Bean character in Trevor Bingley whilst having dialogue to say. You can also emphasise with his character in the series.

Mind you, I find it amazing that Trevor doesn’t seem to be afraid of the bee in that it might sting him. I know it’s a CGI bee in the series, but I’m surprised the bee didn’t sting Trevor once. It’s also amazing that the bee managed to survive every trap that Trevor laid in the house in trying to kill it. 🙂

As well as looking after the house, Trevor has to look after Cupcake, the rich couple’s dog. It was so funny when Cupcake ended up eating peanut butter, after being told he was allergic to nuts. 😮 It was also amusing when Trevor inadvertently gassed Cupcake whilst trying to kill off the bee in a trap.

It was interesting to discover Trevor’s backstory in the series, as he has a daughter named Maddy (played by India Fowler) and Jess, his ex-wife (played by Claudie Blakeley). Apparently, Trevor was meant to take Maddy on holiday somewhere before he got himself landed with the housesitting job.

The rich couple are Julian Rhind-Tutt and Jing Lusi as Christian and Nina Kolstad-Bergenbatten (Yes, that surname is a mouthful 😀 ). They didn’t give Trevor a proper guided tour around their house before they left for their holiday. Then again, that could account for who they are as characters here.

The series also features Greg McHugh as the Gardner and Tom Basden as the Police Officer. There are also the three burglars – Gediminas Adomaitis as Marek, Christian Alifoe as Karl and Daniel Fearn as Lewis. And there’s Chizzy Akudolu as the Judge and Ayesha Kala as the Detective in ‘Man vs. Bee’.

There are court scenes at the beginning and at the end of ‘Man vs. Bee’ which depict Trevor Bingley found guilty for the damage made to the rich couple’s house. It was interesting how Trevor managed to get out of prison three months later, and yet he still has a grudge against the bee when it returns.

‘Man vs. Bee’ has been a very enjoyable and entertaining Netflix comedy series starring Rowan Atkinson. The fact that I’ve seen it again in 2023 after first seeing it in 2022 proves how much of a worthwhile series it is. 🙂 If you get the chance to see ‘Man vs. Bee’ on Netflix, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it.

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂